1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shield connector used for allowing shield electric cables to be connected with each other by mating a male connector and a female shield with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a conventional shield connector described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2011-34773 (Patent Literature 1) and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2011-65882 (Patent Literature 2). A shield connector is formed with a male shield connector 110 and a female shield connector 120. The male and female shield connectors 110, 120 are used for connecting shield electric cables 130.
The shield electric cable 130 has a coaxial structure formed with a core wire 131 made by twining together a plurality of wires, an inner cover 132 made of an insulation covering the core wire 131, a shield member 133 made of a braided wire covering an outer periphery of the inner cover 132 and an outer cover 134 made of an insulation covering an outer periphery of the shield member 133. The core wire 131 serves to transmit a high frequency signal and the male and female connectors 110, 120 are used for connecting the core wires 131.
The male and female connectors 110, 120 are formed respectively with inner terminals 111, 121 connected to the core wires 131 of the shield electric cables 130, outer terminals 112, 122 connected to the shield members 133 of the shield electric cables 130 and inner housings 113, 123 receiving therein the inner terminals 111, 121.
The inner terminals 111, 121 are made of conductive metal where electric connecting portions 111a, 121a on the distal end sides are integrated respectively with crimp barrel portions 111b, 121b on the base end sides. The crimp barrel portions 111b, 121b are crimped to the core wires 131 (of the shield electric cables 130) exposed by peeling off the inner covers 132, thus fixing the core wires 131 to be conductive with the core wires 131. Mating the male shield connector 110 with the female shield connector 120 allows the electric connecting portions 111a, 121a to contact each other and to be conductive with each other. In this case, an electric connecting portion 111a of the male shield connector 110 is formed into a thin cylinder and an electric connecting portion 121a of the female shield connector 120 is formed into a thick cylinder. The electric connecting portion 111a of the mating connector 110 on the male side enters into the electric connecting portion 121a of the shield connector 120 on the female side, to thereby allow the electric connecting portions 111a, 121a to be electrically connected with each other.
The inner housings 113, 123 made of insulation resin receive the respective inner terminals 111, 121. In the state of receiving the inner terminals 111, 121, the inner housings 113, 123 are assembled into the respective outer terminals 112, 122.
The outer terminals 112, 122 are formed with conductive metal where cylindrical portions 112a, 122a on the distal end sides are integrated respectively with the shield member connecting portions 112b, 122b on the base end sides. The shield member connecting portions 112b, 122b on the base end sides are crimped to the shield members 133 exposed by peeling off the outer covers 134. This crimping connects the shield member connecting portions 112b, 122b to the shield members 133 of the shield electric cables 130.
The cylindrical portions 112a, 122a are members for mating the mating connector 110 with the shield connector 120 and formed into configurations capable of mating with each other. In FIG. 1, the cylindrical portion 112a of the male shield connector 110 is formed into a cylinder having a large diameter and the cylindrical portion 122a of the female shield connector 120 is formed into a cylinder having a small diameter, thus rendering the mutual mating. This mating brings the shield electric cables 130 connected to the shield connectors 110, 120 into a connection state. In this way, the outer terminals 112, 122 are formed into different configurations for allowing the mutual mating.